6 NBA Teams Most Likely to Make a Trade During the 2016 Draft
Before and during the 2015 NBA draft, 15 trades came to fruition and involved 19 of the league's 30 teams. One year earlier, the world tried to process 13 separate draft-day and near-draft-day swaps that featured 21 franchises making moves.
Based on history and the selection process' innate unpredictability, more than six teams will surely get involved in the pick-swapping festivities during the 2016 draft. They'll fall for prospects going higher than their own selection, try to package multiple choices for a better one, or cash their picks into either future ones or established NBA players.
Based on their roster situations, the number of picks at their disposal and the nature of their front offices, each of these six should be working the phones for much of the evening come June 23.
Boston Celtics
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The Boston Celtics aren't just likely to make a trade; they're practically guaranteed to make one.
Thanks to the many deals general manager Danny Ainge has made over the last few years, the C's seem to possess half of the picks during the 2016 NBA draft. If the pingpong balls bounce as the odds dictate they should, they'll own the Nos. 3, 16 and 23 picks during the first round, as well as Nos. 31, 35, 45, 53 and 58 during the second.
No team should ever want to add eight rookies to the roster, and Boston is swimming in so many selections it can't even justify holding onto them in the form of draft-and-stash picks. Plus, even if Ainge lets Evan Turner, Tyler Zeller and Jared Sullinger walk, he still has 12 incumbent players under contract for the 2016-17 campaign.
Consolidation is the name of the game here. Look for Boston to either package many of its second-rounders and late first-rounders in an attempt to move up the pecking order, or pair them with some current players to improve the talent in Beantown.
Denver Nuggets
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The Denver Nuggets are in a similar situation to Boston.
Their roster isn't nearly as competitive as the Celtics' right now, and they don't boast nearly as many second-round picks—only two that fall within the last 10 slots.
However, the Nuggets do lay claim to Nos. 7 (prospectively), 15 and 19, which makes them another prime consolidation candidate.
Even though Denver was one of 2015-16's least successful teams, it's still overflowing with upside at nearly every position. Emmanuel Mudiay is the future at point guard, while Will Barton and Gary Harris have shown promise on the wings. Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler are entrenched as veteran contributors at the forward positions, and the frontcourt features Nikola Jokic, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic and Joffrey Lauvergne all competing for minutes.
Heading into the offseason, the Nuggets are likely to have 12 players under contract—13 if Darrell Arthur accepts his player option for $2.9 million—which simply doesn't leave room for three additional top-20 picks.
Expect this franchise to chase a star player already on the trading block or package the first-rounders into an even more advantageous draft-day placement.
Philadelphia 76ers
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Even if Joel Embiid is healthy and Dario Saric decides to travel across the pond for the 2016-17 season, the Philadelphia 76ers will have a hodgepodge roster. It would be brimming over with prospects at the biggest positions and curiously empty at the smaller ones. As you can see in the projected depth chart below, even the backcourt members under contract don't seem to have much enduring upside:
| T.J. McConnell | Nik Stauskas | Robert Covington | Nerlens Noel | Jahlil Okafor |
| Kendall Marshall | Hollis Thompson | Jerami Grant | Dario Saric | Joel Embiid |
| Richaun Holmes | ||||
| Carl Landry |
However, even if the current roster construction wouldn't seem to point in this direction, the Sixers (finally) want to start competing again. They made that perfectly clear by bringing in Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations and later hiring his son, Bryan, to fill the general manager role after Sam Hinkie resigned. The younger of the two had this to say about the offseason plan on Sixers 365 (via Bret Stuter of The Sixers Sense):
"We’re looking to add some key pieces, whether they’re stars this year or just the glue pieces or the key role players—the guys who are going to make players better, guys who are going to help the young kids develop. What we have is an interesting mix, but probably not enough NBA star talent, and what we're looking to do is build. We’ve got a hard working staff that is doing their best to develop these kids. There's a lot of good pieces in place, but what we have more than anything—and I said this at the press conference when I was introduced—we have resources and picks to move forward and try to add some of those pieces.
"
Right now, the Sixers are projected to hold the Nos. 1, 24 and 26 picks in the upcoming draft. Don't expect Colangelo to use all three selections now that he seems to desire both stability and immediate progress.
Stop trusting the process. It's time to trust the trade market.
Phoenix Suns
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Back in 2014, Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said the following to NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper:
"I think one of the things that’s important for people to realize is that we may not draft four players even if we have four picks. Our preference would probably be to maybe package a few of them. We’re obviously all looking for stars and we feel like we can put together a package as good, if not better, than any other team in the league if and when a star becomes available. That’s kind of generally what we’ve wanted to do, not only with our draft-pick situation but also with the cap space that we’ve acquired.
"
That mentality shouldn't have changed. Once again, the Suns have four draft picks at their disposal, likely Nos. 4, 13, 28 and 34. Though they admittedly have plenty of holes to fill, using all four selections and somehow lowering the average age of this incredibly young roster doesn't make sense.
As beneficial as adding three first-round talents may be, it would make even more sense to package them together for an established talent. This roster is already filled with young players serving as core pieces.
At the guard positions, the Suns have Eric Bledsoe (26 years old at the start of 2016-17), Brandon Knight (24), Devin Booker (20) and Archie Goodwin (22) under contract. Forward T.J. Warren (23) and center Alex Len (23) are also still developing.
Sacramento Kings
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Conversely, the Sacramento Kings' coffers are not overflowing with selections. They only own one pick in the first round (projected at No. 8) and another in the second (No. 59).
Tautological as this argument may be, they're likely to make a trade just because they're the Kings.
This is an organization with too many voices operating in the front office, and it's undergoing yet another regime change after firing former head coach George Karl. Everything about the franchise feels like it's in flux, from the vacant coaching position to the status of DeMarcus Cousins to the views on the young talents already on the roster.
Stop us if you've heard this before, but the Kings could very well pull the trigger on a Cousins trade after so many years of speculation.
"A year later, the sense within the organization is [Vlade] Divac is tempted by the prospect of pairing his center with his personally selected coach but that he has become increasingly frustrated by his center's ongoing issues and, for the first time, is willing to test the market for the two-time All-Star," Ailene Voisin wrote for the Sacramento Bee in mid-April.
Of course, they could also refuse to part with their leading superstar and instead offer a potential-laden player who hasn't panned out yet—see: McLemore, Ben. They could even trade future picks and this year's No. 8 in an attempt to move up and land an elite talent to pair with Cousins (but only after the lottery has come and gone).
The possibilities feel limitless. And knowing the Kings, they're probably already tossing around ideas so out-of-the-box that we aren't even thinking of them.
Utah Jazz
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The Utah Jazz own what's likely to be No. 12 in the first round, as well as three selections in the second. With only Trevor Booker coming off the books, they also have 14 players under contract for 2016-17.
The math just doesn't work, especially because the vast majority of the rostered players are actual contributors. Though Utah could afford to get rid of Chris Johnson, Tibor Pleiss and Raul Neto (only because Dante Exum should be healthy), that still doesn't leave much opportunity for incoming rookies.
Even though they missed the playoffs, the Jazz are ready to compete. Injuries plagued them throughout the season, preventing continuity and forcing them into a hole they couldn't quite dig out of. But this team was still far better than its 40-42 record might indicate.
According to Basketball-Reference.com's Simple Rating System (which looks at margin of victory and strength of schedule), Utah trailed only nine squads throughout the Association. It also outscored the opposition by two points per 100 possessions, which is by no means indicative of a sub-.500 record.
With every key piece returning, the youthful Jazz will be significantly more competitive next season. Turning some of those draft picks into veteran contributors or future selections would only aid the process.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball-Reference.com or NBAMath.com.
